octombrie 19, 2010

Project

We have long wanted to create a neuron-by-neuron map of the brain's circuitry to give us a 3-D glimpse into its connections are, how they work and how the different parts of the brain talk to one another. This is called "reverse engineering the brain" and is one of the Holy Grails of artificial intelligence and brain research. Unfortunately, we are many decades from being able to understand the entire brain at the neural level. With all our medical advances, it is proving difficult to understand all the neural hook-ups of a fruit fly brain, let alone a human brain. But recently, a new promising step is being taken, compliments of MRI research.